What If
by Avatar Wolfheart
Summary: A collection of oneshots and short stories tied to my story The Guardian Spirit Trilogy. Some may be comedic, others heartbreaking. First chapter contains character death and sadness, so read at your own risk. Ch 3: This was a Sci-Fi
1. Aang Didn't Know He Was the Avatar?

Aang Didn't Know He Was the Avatar

 **Contains character death and sadness. Read at your own risk.**

Xena coughed harshly on the smoke from the burning temple. Her hands were sweaty on the hilt of her dual swords as she limped towards the cliffside hut where she had told Gyatso to take a terrified Aang. She had fought the troops of Fire Nation soldiers for as long as she could, trying to save the lives of as many pacifist monks as she could. She couldn't remember how many soldiers she had killed and how many monks she had seen die before she could reach them. No matter how hard she fought she couldn't make a difference, but she had still tried. It took an order from Head Monk Pasang before she finally left the battle to go back to the young twelve year old monk who wasn't even aware of who he really was.

"Monk Gyatso! Aang!" Xena called as she parted the beaded curtain leading into the hut. "We need to-"

She broke off and staggered back into the hut wall. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared wide eyed at the burnt and bloodied corpses, lying against the backwall. Her swords fell from her hands with a resounding clang and her knees buckled beneath her. She raised blood and ash stained hands up to her mouth. Her breath rushed out of her and a piercing scream of grief and horror filled her ears.

Who was screaming? Pain tore through her throat and a salty coppery taste settled heavily onto her tongue. Oh, that was her. Her stomach flipped and she leaned forward as it decided to empty itself of its contents.

* * *

"Where are they?" Drake demanded as he stormed into the Beifong estate, followed closely by Raiden. "Are they okay?"

Tanvi and Temari stared at him with a silent sadness. Temari shook her head and Drake began to rush towards the guest rooms where Xena and Aang usually stayed when they visited the twins.

"Wait, Drake!" Tanvi cried and grabbed his arm. "There's something you have to know first."

"I don't need to know anything. I just need to see my fiancée."

"Aang's dead," Temari told him grabbing his other arm.

"He's … what? No, that's not possible. Xena would have protected him."

Raiden placed a hand on his bestfriends shoulder. "Is Xena hurt?"

"She's fine physically," Temari answered him. "But mentally… She killed so many soldiers trying to protect the monks and it was all for nothing. Everything she trained for and everything she's had to suffer for is gone."

"The doctor says she has survivor's guilt," Tanvi added.

Drake shook them off and began walking once more towards the guest rooms.

"Drake…" Temari started but trailed off as Raiden touched her shoulder and shook his head.

When Drake entered the room, he paused for a moment to light a flame so he could see in the dark room. Xena was curled into the fetal position in the center of the bed, staring blankly at the wall. He slowly approached and dropped to his knees beside her, carefully pulling her into a hug. At first she remained unresponsive and before relaxing into his hold and burying her face in his shirt as she began to stung his eyes as well, but he didn't let them fall as he tightened his hug.

* * *

"You didn't think we were going to let you leave without us right?" Temari demanded from her position in Appa's saddle.

Xena stared at her blankly before glancing to the other three sitting in the saddle. "Just don't get in my way."

Drake frowned at the girl's iciness. It had been two and a half years since Aang had died and Xena had only grown colder. Xena climbed onto Appa's head and gave him the order to take off. It took the bison longer than it once had to lift off the ground. With the death of his master, Appa had slowly begun to waste away. If it weren't for Xena and the twins - mostly Xena though - it was likely that the airbison would have starved himself in his grief. He hoped this trip would do both him and Xena some good.

"I've never been to the South Pole before," Tanvi said with a bright smile that never reached her eyes. "Do you think it'll be cold?"

"Of course, it'll be cold," Temari snapped and Tanvi flinched.

Raiden reached out a hand to calm the irate earthbender only to have his hand smacked away harshly. Perhaps this trip would also repair the frayed bounds of their friendship.

"Does Kaori know we're coming?" Drake asked Xena, desperately hoping that their waterbender friend could help him hold this group together once the got to the South Pole.

"I sent a letter ahead, so she should be expecting us."

* * *

Tanvi was the first of them to die. She'd fallen into the ocean a month after they had first arrived in the South Pole and as fast as Xena had jumped in to save her, it wasn't fast enough to stop the normally cheerful girl from getting sick. In the two weeks, she'd fought against pneumonia, the acrobat lost the optimistic mask that she usually refused to leave her twin's bedside and Xena and stayed with them as often as she could in an effort to use her healing knowledge to save Tanvi.

A year later, Raiden went missing on a seal hunt. It was believed that he was either eaten by a polar beardog or by wolves. With his disappearance, Tamsin realized that in her grief and sadness since first losing Aang and then losing Tanvi that she had pushed him away in fear of losing him and now he was truly gone. The earthbender dedicated her attention to the care of a pregnant Kaori who had become Raiden's widow with his disappearance.

Appa finally gave up on life and died a few months later. Xena mourned his loss as heavily as she had Aang's and their other two friends' threw herself into using her bond to the Avatar to sense when and where he - or she - would be born next. That answer became clear when Kaori finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy that was able to bend not only water, but fire and earth as well at the edge of two. Unfortunately, his mother wasn't around to see his achievement as she had bled out due to complications during the birth.

Xena, Drake, and Temari as the only remaining three were left to raise and protect the boy. Drake was relieved to see both girls growing closer and becoming less weighed down by all of the loss and grief as they tended to the outgoing boy, named Kaorden after both his parents. By the time the boy was eight, they had all reconnected with each other and were able to function better than they had in years and were able to finally be happy again.

However, that happiness couldn't and wouldn't last forever. The Fire Nation attacked the Southern Water Tribe to kill the young Avatar before he could become grown enough to put a stop to the war. Xena and Drake had been out on a whale hunt that day and when Xena had realized that something was wrong back at the village, they had quickly turned back. They were too late though and when they arrived back the village was almost completely destroyed with survivors crying over the bodies of their loved ones. Xena had jumped out of the boat before it was even docked, swimming through the water and then rushing to the hut on the outskirts of the village where they lived.

When Drake caught up with her, the Guardian was crying over the bodies of both Kaorden and Temari, who had died protecting the boy. Twenty-eight-years-old and both Xena and Drake had lost everything they cared for. Everything except each other. Xena was never the same person she was when Drake first fell in love with her, but neither was Drake. The two of them would survive this together.

* * *

"Where's Drake now?"

Xena smiled at the six-year-old waterbender. "He's in the Spirit World now with all our other friends waiting for me to join him."

"That's kind of sad," Katara said with a frown.

Xena laughed and then began to cough harshly. Katara grabbed the blankets in worry, but relaxed as the elderly waterbender relaxed back onto the bed.

"Perhaps it is a bit sad, but I must admit. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again."

"Will Aang be there?"

"Part of his spirit will be waiting there, but as the Avatar, Aang has already been reborn into the world for a second time."

Katara smiled. "I bet he'll be super old then."

"On the contrary," Xena started and placed a hand on the girl's dark hair. "He is actually a girl like you and is three years younger in fact."

"Really," She grinned brightly. "Then that would make her, umm…"

Xena smiled again as the girl's brow furrowed in thought. "Three."

"Three!" The girl repeated cheerfully and then sobered. "Do you think I can ever meet him?"

"Her. And anything can happen if you make it. In fact, maybe someday you'll find the Avatar and teach her how to waterbend and maybe you'll travel with her to defeat the Fire Nation."

Katara's eyes gleamed. "Yeah, I'll grow up to be strong like you, Xena. And I'll be sure to find the Avatar."

"Katara, it's time to go," A kindly voice said from the tent opening. "Run along home now."

"Okay, mom."

Katara scampered out of the tent as Kya entered. "I'm sorry if she was bothering you. I know she has a ceaseless curiosity."

"It's fine, dear. In fact, I am glad that I was able to share my story with someone before I pass."

"Oh, don't speak like that. You've been around all my life and I'm sure you'll be around a couple of more."

Xena shook her head. "It's time I moved on, dear. I have people waiting for me."

"We'll miss you if you go, Gran."

"Aye, but someday we'll meet again and may it be far off into the future, my sweet granddaughter. Now hurry home to your children and husband."

"Goodnight, Gran."

"Goodnight, dear."

Xena smiled and sank down into the furs covering her frail form. "I always wondered why it was you never reincarnated earlier, Aang. But then again, knowing you perhaps I shouldn't be surprised."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "I'll see you soon, everybody. Wait for me."

 **I'll be honest. This oneshot was just a way for me to break my writer's block at first, but it became so much more as I wrote it and I almost cried several times while writing this. There is some description I wanted to include with this oneshot to explain exactly how the begining events would have enfolded the way they did.**

 **If Aang had never been told he was the Avatar, he would have no need to run away from the temple and wouldn't end up in the iceberg so he would be around when the temple was attacked. I imagine that in an effort to ensure Aang's survival they would have tried to get him away from the fighting. Since Aang didn't know he was the Avatar, he also wouldn't have known that Xena was his Guardian and so wouldn't have been angry with her. Without Aang being angry at her, Xena wouldn't be as paranoidly attuned to his thoughts or emotions. She would assume Aang was safe and would fight to protect the rest of the monks. As for how she doesn't actually sense Aang's death, that is due to the strange influence that Sozin's Comet had on her.**

 **As for the ending, I wanted it to be bittersweet and I'm not entirely sure if I succeeded. That's up to you guys to decide. As for Xena's relation to Kya at the end, that was just a spur of the moment thing.**

 **Feel free to ask any questions you have about this oneshot. If you have any other what if's for my story that you're interested in getting the answer for, feel free to ask that as well and I'll see what I can do to answer it. Long ass author note done, you can leave a review now.**

 **No, seriously you can drop a review in that box right down there.**

 **Kidding, kidding. I would never force anyone to drop a review. However, they are nice.**

 **-Wolf the Crybaby**

 **Playlist: "Here Comes a Thought" from Steven Universe played on loop**


	2. Xena Was a Guy? Part One

**Xena was a Guy: Part One**

 **A/N: While you await the next chapter of "The Guardian Spirit Trilogy," please enjoy the first of a small series of changes a "male" Xena would have on my story.**

 _. . . The Water Tribe Siblings . . ._

"There you are, Xenon. Have you seen my- Why are you covered in flour?"

Glancing up at the Water Tribe boy walking towards him, Xenon quickly wiped his face clean of the white powder. If the other boy noticed the redness of his watery eyes, he was kind enough not to mention it.

Xenon cleared his throat before answering. "I was helping your grandmother and the other women bake."

Sokka frowned. "Why would you do that?"

"I wanted to. Is there a reason I shouldn't have?"

"It's just that baking is such a . . . _girly_ . . . thing to do."

Xenon let out an exasperated sigh, running a hand through his fluffy short hair. "Was there something in particular that you wanted."

Reminded of his original intention when calling out to the boy, Sokka forced his confusion away. "Have you seen my sister and Aang?"

As Xenon was in the process of responding with "I have not", but cut himself off to gape open-mouthed at the bright orange flare that shot up into the sky. It seemed to hover ominously in the air for a moment before beginning its descent back to the ground in a slow arc. A surge of guilt and worry seeped through the bond Xenon shared with Aang.

"What have you done now?" Xenon muttered in exasperation and irritation as Sokka puffed out his chest furiously and rounded on him.

"I knew you were spies."

Xenon's response was to push him away with a hand to the face.

 _. . . The Return . . ._

"Damn it, I must have made a wrong turn somewhere," Xenon swore as he came to the dead end.

Hearing his pursuers closing in on him, he ducked into an unlocked room and closed the door quietly behind him.

"Where did he go?"

"He must have turned onto a different hallway."

"We have to find her quick. The prince will have our heads if we let the Avatar escape."

Xenon sighed and relaxed as their footsteps retreated before turning to investigate the room he had ended up in. The good news was that should combat take place, the room was more than spacious enough. However, the bad news was that it was the prince's bedroom and he had interrupted said prince in the process of changing.

"Uh," He started intelligently and then cleared his throat as the tip of his ears burned. "Sorry for interrupting."

The sound of his voice snapped Zuko out of his shock. "How did you escape?!"

"Rope doesn't make for the best restraints when dealing with a firebender," He replied, inching his hand back to the doorknob behind him. "I, uh, see you're busy here so I'll just go and let you finish changing."

The prince's anger apparently overpowered his mortification at being caught in such a state of undress by the other boy as he surged forward with a fire filled punch. Xenon dodged to the side and the blow struck the metal door. His gaze hardened and his embarrassment all but evaporated as he threw his own punch. The grappled in hand-to-hand combat for a minute before the wolf warrior managed to entangle the prince in one of the Fire Nation banners hanging on the wall and then throwing him on top of the writing table which broke under the burlier boys weight.

Xenon didn't stick around to see the prince free himself as he fled out of the bedroom.

"Get back here!"

Ignoring the shout, Xenon's battle focus was replaced by his earlier embarrassment. "I can't believe I had to fight a naked guy. Bet Temari would have loved that." A pause as Xenon's face burned. "I saw his. . . No, don't think about that. Get your head back in the game."

His focus wavered again and he let out a groan. "Agni. Aang, please get here soon."

In his distraction, Zuko had managed to catch up to the fleeing dualbender as he finally made it back to the deck. The prince - thankfully wearing pants now - tackled Xenon from behind right onto the table that several men were using to play a card game. The table broke, sending cards flying as Xenon tried to free himself from Zuko's grasp. He was pretty sure he had broken one of the shocked onlookers in the face with a kick that gave him just enough leverage to wiggle free.

 **Don't question me! I swear I'm perfectly insane.**


	3. This was a Sci-Fi

**I know many of you may be impatient for the next chapter of** _ **The Guardian Spirit**_ **to come out and I promise I am working on it. It's a bit of a difficult chapter for me to write because it is a completely original chapter and I've been struggling with some lack of motivation. Add that to the hecticness of having moved and trying to get a new job so I can pay rent and it makes me feel a bit overwhelmed. So while you wait, I'll give you this short snippet that I was inspired to write.**

 **Inspiration comes and goes for me randomly. I recently read a story on the AO3 that was like pure art. It's a three chapter _Carmilla_ fanfiction called _Star Filled Memories_ and the author is RunWithWolves. If you like Sci-fi, dragons, and soulmates, it's a really good story. For those of you who don't know, Carmilla is a web series about a human journalist student in college and her broody lesbian vampire roommate. If you decide to check either of them out, I'd be happy to hear your opinions about it. As long as it's not hateful remarks about the homosexuality in the show.**

* * *

 **This was a Sci-Fi**

* * *

When Xena was four, she would spend hours staring up into the night sky with her daemon Kina at her side, watching the shining stars that shone above the dancing lights of the Aurora. They dreamed of leaving Borealis to fly among those tiny specks of light that were so much bigger than what they appeared. They wished on every shooting star that they saw that one day soon they would be able to visit the great earth planets like Ba Sing Se and Omashu or see the fire planets like Caldera. The crescent moon on her brow that Xena had received shortly after her birth was like a promise that they someday would, but as the years slowly passed, they began to lose hope that it would ever happen.

Then when she was eight, her mother whisked them away from Borealis on a cargo ship headed straight for Borealis' sister ice planet, Australis. It was all they had dreamed of and more. They learned all that they could from the ship's crew and made a promise to one another that they would someday own a ship of their very own, where they would be free to travel wherever they wanted with no one to tell them what to do or insist that they follow the destiny laid out for them by the spirits. They had never chosen to be the Avatar's Guardian and they refused to be forced into that role no matter what the adults around them said.

When the arrived on Australis, it felt like they had never left home. It was all ice and snow and while the buildings were smaller and not entirely made from snow, it made Xena and Kina long all the more for the stars. As her mother spoke with Australis' chief in his hut made of skins, Xena stood outside in the snow, the red crystal on the wrist of her left hand glowing softly as it helped her to stay warm. Kina laid curled around her feet in the form of an emerald green dragon, staring up at the sky while her human watched a group of tattooed men and - to her great surprise - women as well as their daemons sparring with a variety of weapons as well as waterbending. On Borealis, women were not allowed to learn to fight and were only allowed to use waterbending to heal and to take care of their homes. The only exception to that rule had been Xena as she was decreed by the spirits to be the first ever protector of the Avatar, who - until she was born - was the only one person alive who possessed more than one of the four elemental crystal. She only possessed two unlike the Avatar who possessed all four, but sometimes she wished she'd been born a nonbender.

"Hi!" The sudden energetic greeting had startled the two and Kina arched her back, exhaling a burst of frost at the small white fox-hare that popped out of the snow in front of them. It was the first time a daemon that was not her parents' had ever spoken to her, as that was another thing unheard of on Borealis.

"Be nice, Yuki," a voice admonished behind them. Xena turned to face a girl her own age while Kina remained glaring at the other daemon until it ran to the other girl, transforming into the form of a tiny mouse that scampered up into the warmth of the girl's parka. "Sorry about her. My name's Kaori, what's yours?"

"Xenia. This is Kina."

A friendship bloomed between the four quickly as Kaori and Yuki explained Australis to them. Xena took an immediate interest in the sparring men and women, who Kaori told her were known as wolf warriors who were trained not only to fight with bending but weapons as well. She found her attention caught in particular by a man who wielded two swords at once in a display that looked almost like dancing. Her interest was noted by the Australis' chief when he and her mother finally exited his hut and before she knew it, not only was Xena finishing her training in waterbending, but she was also learning how to fight with dual swords while Kina also received training in how to fight from the other daemons.

Their love for their stars never faded throughout their training and when their teachers asked if they would like to travel to travel to the small earth planet known as Gaoling to learn another dual sword fighting style once they were done with their training on Australis, they were quick to say yes and worked harder than ever so they could fly amongst the stars once again.

Tragedy struck shortly after passing their final test, forcing their trip to be delayed. When they finally left for Gaoling, they found themselves numb to everything and everyone around them and not even being amongst the stars again could bring them any joy and it would be many years before they would ever again.

* * *

 **This is actually a bit of a pilot chapter/prologue. If you guys like this let me know and I might continue this sci-fi/space story. It will pretty much follow the same events of this story but in space and stuff. And will also have some changes from that. Also for anyone who's curious, a daemon is pretty much a person's spirit that takes a physical form of an animal. Children's daemons can change forms at will but will settle on a final form and be unable to change again once that child becomes an adult. Anyways, let me know what you think, and if you'd like to see a continued story about this.**


End file.
